Brussels, 24/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - A subcommittee on human rights of the European Parliament, chaired by Hélène Flautre (Greens, France), took stock of and looked to the future on the EU's policy on human rights on 16 June, during an exchange of views between the Luxembourg and UK Presidencies of the Council. Ambassador Julien Alex presented the considerable results of the many actions carried out by the Luxembourg Presidency during the last six months, noting that the main job of the Presidency had been the EU's participation at the 61st session of the UN Committee on Human Rights in Geneva. Nonetheless, this session had taken place in a less antagonistic atmosphere than in previous years, and the countries of the EU acted in disaccord only four times, notably on the question of Israel, but "there was no opposition of principle". Having inherited a situation of stalemate, the Luxembourg Presidency had started dialogue with Iran and negotiated the details for this, urging the Iranian authorities to renew their commitment to the respect of human rights. "In all honesty, the EU had certain reservations about this commitment", he admitted. On UN reform, he noted that from the very beginning, the Presidency had lent its support to proposals of Secretary General Kofi Annan, particularly on the creation of a permanent human rights Council, to reinforce the High Commissioner for Human Rights and develop "mainstreaming" (whereby dialogue with third countries must automatically include a plank on human rights). Ambassador Alex also spoke of: -the commitment to the fight against torture; -continuing the action plan launched by the Dutch Presidency on the defence of children in armed conflict; -its tour of capitals against the death penalty (United States, China, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and Kuwait, amongst others). Lastly, he expressed his satisfaction at the creation of the post of personal representative to Javier Solana for human rights, which has been allocated to Michael Matthiessen, who is to lend the EU's actions greater "visibility, presence, flexibility and mobility ", and give continuity to the Council's policy.
Alexandra Hall simply sketched out the programme of the forthcoming UK Presidency, stating that it intends to " pick up the baton from the previous presidencies" (Dutch and Luxembourg), and that it hopes to contribute to this continuity by working in turn with Austria and Finland, which will hold the Presidency in 2006. We will adopt "a team-player' s approach", by stepping up coordination with the European Commission and representative Matthiessen, in order to have a more strategic approach on human rights, Ms Hall added. The UK Presidency hopes to develop existing guidelines rather than launch new ones, and will be particularly active on the death penalty, torture, the defence of children, the protection of defenders of human rights and freedom of expression, a theme to be tackled in a forum between the EU and NGOs next December. "You may believe in our commitment to move these dossiers forward", Ms Hall repeated.
In order for the EU's commitment to human rights to be plausible, this must be translated into its budget, stressed Spanish MEPs Valenciano Martinez-Orozco (PES) and Romeva i Rueda (Greens/EFA), pointing the finger at the rebate enjoyed by the United Kingdom. Mr Romeva also said that the United Kingdom would have a particularly important role to play on certain dossiers, particularly the situation on those held at Guantánamo Bay, the social responsibility of companies, defenders of human rights and China. Simon Coveney (PES, Ireland) added to this list, stating that he expected London to take the lead on human rights in Africa, having put itself forward as a champion for the cancellation of the debt of the poorest countries, and for it to use its special relationship with the United States to bring influence to bear on the US position on the International Criminal Court and the death penalty.